Rose McGowan was indicted yesterday by a grand jury on one count of felony cocaine possession. (Photo: Bang ShowBiz)

Rose McGowan’s defense against cocaine charges–Harvey Weinstein had it planted in her wallet–didn’t fly with a grand jury. She was indicted for possessing the drug, even though it was only discovered after she left the wallet on a plane.

IMreported in March that McGowan lawyer Jessica Carmichael argued in court papers that the actress’s cocaine bust last November has Weinstein’s fingerprints all over it.

Carmichael noted that five hours passed between the time McGowan got off a United Airlines flight at Dulles International Airport, and a cleaning crew found the cocaine in a wallet she left behind.

“There is simply no point in time at which the evidence places Ms. McGowan and the cocaine together in the same place,” she asserted in court papers.

Prosecutor Rebecca Thatcher, countered that the state had other as yet undisclosed evidence implicating McGowan.

Carmichael made the arguments in an effort to get charges dismissed. But a grand jury returned one felony count of cocaine possession.

“Rose steadfastly maintains her innocence. These charges would have never been brought if it weren’t for her activism as a voice for women everywhere. I assure you, this selective prosecution will be met with a strong defenze,” McGowan lawyer Jose Baez told gossip site TMZ.

McGowan was one of the first actresses to speak out publicly about Weinstein’s decades-long reign of sexual assault and rape in Hollywood. The expose was published last November in The New York Times, leading to the end of the mogul’s Hollywood career.

“It is now public knowledge that Weinstein employed underhanded tactics to ‘silence’ his victims,” Carmichael argued.

McGowan says Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1997 after he lured her to his hotel room. She has been outspoken about him ever since the Times article.

McGowan was served with a felony warrant for her arrest last November. The incident took place in Jan. 2017, while Weinstein was still reigning large in Hollywood.

About The Author

TheImproper Staff

Keith Girard is Editor and Publisher of TheImproper, New York City’s cutting edge arts, entertainment pop culture and lifestyle Web magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine and a reporter for the Washington Post among other media positions.